


The Survivor

by artisticGryfess



Series: Little Bitty Mini-Fics [2]
Category: Cosmere - Brandon Sanderson, Mistborn - Brandon Sanderson
Genre: Drabble, How Do I Tag, I wrote this for a school assignment, Not Beta Read, Urteau, about 700 words, but then none of my stuff is, hes so friggin dramatic, hhhhh, i guess its pretty short, i like it so i may as well, i wonder how that'll go, is where its set, its got references to kell's "i am hope" speech, putting it on ao3 because why not, serves a narrative function but doesnt really matter beyond that, there's one original character and she's really just there as someone to talk at
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-28
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:42:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24428938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artisticGryfess/pseuds/artisticGryfess
Summary: "Kelsier" talks at a skaa street cleaner in UrteauSet after his "I am Hope" speech
Series: Little Bitty Mini-Fics [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1625707
Comments: 4
Kudos: 7





	The Survivor

The skaa woman grumbled as she swept the ash from the streets of Urteau. She had almost finished her shift--the last one of the day, before the mists came out--when another ashfall had started with a low grumble from Kalling, the closest ashmount to her city. The low-ranked noble overseeing her and the other street-cleaning skaa had insisted that they stay out to sweep up this ashfall before turning in for the night, and, well. All the skaa knew what it meant to disobey Lord Clemont. So they stayed out, even as the mists surrounded them and filled them with the fear of mistwraiths.

The skaa woman--Yune--turned a corner into an alleyway, pushing the dirty gray ash in front of her. She looked up, wiping her brow--and froze. There, standing in front of her, was a tall man with bright blond hair--despite the ash still falling on it--wearing a cloak made up of many tassels. _Mistborn._ The blond man stared at her, and Yune quickly dropped to one knee. Yune had only ever heard of one skaa mistborn, the Survivor of Hathsin, and the chances of him being in Urteau were… Not high. She hoped the noble would just leave and continue on his way. Sometimes, the invisibility of a skaa servant was the ideal. 

No such luck. Yune heard footsteps, and the cloak swirling like the mist against the man’s legs as he walked towards her.

“There’s no need for that,” he said, a smile evident in his voice.

Yune looked up, to see the man extending a hand towards her. Startled, she looked up slowly. Her gaze froze on the man’s arm, covered all over in thin, pale criss-crossing scars. She had only ever heard of scars like that on one man.

The Survivor of Hathsin.

“They said you died,” she whispered, taking the hand and letting herself be pulled up.

The Survivor smirked. “I did. Then I survived that, too.”

“You--” Yune took a deep breath. “You survived dying?”

The Survivor’s smirk morphed into a full-fledged grin. “I did. You want to know how?”

Breathless, Yune nodded.

“I am Hope. I may be killed, but so long as people live, I will never truly die. I smile because the Lord Ruler would kill joy, and I live because the Lord Ruler would see me dead, and I can do these because I am the hope that he will fall. And I know he will. How could he not, when we skaa outnumber the nobles at least four to one? How could he not, when even the Terrismen are on our side? How could he not, when the very mist protects us, guides us, keeps us safe in a way it never will protect the tyrant nobles. We will rise up, one day, and that day will be soon! So long as you keep hope, you will survive as I have, and rise above those who would see you dead.”

The Survivor swept his hand wide, his mistcloak swirling and the mist swirling with it, as if in confirmation of his words. “Spread the word! The Final Empire will fall! Tell your fellows to keep hope, and tell them to trust in the mists!” His broad, beaming smile turned softer, gentler. “If I can survive death, the Lord Ruler can meet it. The Final Empire will fall!”

And then-- the Survivor vanished before Yune’s eyes, and all that remained of his presence was an odd spiral to the mist, and his words still ringing in her head.

Yune left the alleyway with a quiet smile on her face and a rake in her hands, and though Clemont shouted at her for being gone so long, she only pretended to be cowed; as the cleaning skaa finally, finally finished for the night, Yune told the other skaa who she had seen, and what he had said to her. She told them about the man who survived not only the Pits of Hathsin--which were thought to be a death trap, before he Survived them--but also how he had survived death itself. She told them his message of hope, and they gripped their rakes just a little tighter before returning them. The skaa dreamed of hope, of a fall to the Final Empire, and of the man who knew it could happen, and on the day the Lord Ruler died, they rose up against the nobles of Urteau and took the city for themselves. And the mist was no longer something they feared, but something they honored, second only to the man who Survived death.


End file.
